I am magpie | Episode 10 (Poems XXXIX – XLII)
The notebooks begin to reveal their mysteries to Eliza. She recalls the day when everything changed. Then that night when she knew she would sail alone. Eliza receives her first talisman.
I am magpie | Episode 9 (Poems XXXVI – XXXVIII)
Eliza turns to Meg and begins to share her story. Gradually, the past unfurls in the telling. Her love for Thomas. Her sudden awakening. Her unbounded passion. Her hopes for their future.
I am magpie – Introduction
Eliza Collins. A fictional character, set in history. Fascinated by language and how it might change society. Let me introduce ‘I am magpie’.
I am magpie | Episode 1 (Poems I – V)
We meet Eliza as she wakes from a lucid dream, her body reawakened. Holding fast to this newly discovered joy, she shares her delight and her new intention with her neighbour Meg, the midwife.
I am magpie | Episode 11 (Poems XLIII – XLVII)
Stories and memories unfold. Meg encourages Eliza to read from her sea journal and to remember. Tentatively she begins to read, and then to experience her interior journey anew.
I am magpie | Episode 12 (Poems XLVIII – LII)
Eliza recalls a secret. Her body alive with child. She reads again of the sea journey’s rituals, and is reminded of her bewilderment. Alone. Apart. A tumble of conflicting emotions.
I am magpie | Episode 13 (Poems LIII – LVI)
Eliza’s mood lifts as her baby grows and they journey through warm, calmer seas. After leaving the Cape of Good Hope, Eliza senses disquiet as she prepares for birthing.
When luck and irony collide
Things recently took a strange turn here at the magpie nest. I opened the NSW government health site as I do each evening, to check on details of the latest …